C. diff rates dropping

TORONTO — Rates of Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infections dropped by more than a quarter after Ontario made it mandatory for hospitals to publically report cases of the hospital-acquired infection (HAI), according to The Star.

The drop in rates suggests that public reporting has helped to focus hospitals'' attention on C. diff, prompting them to find ways to prevent and reduce the spread of the infection, the article stated.

According to the article, prior to September 2008 there were between 5,000 and 6,000 cases annually of C. diff in Ontario.

"And, since about five to six percent of patients with C. diff die directly or in part from C. diff, we also estimate this could mean more than 100 lives saved per year in Ontario," Daneman, who is also an adjunct scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, added.